The Wars of Wizards
by PigZ
Summary: AU. Harry Potter is special. This is known. What isn't known is just how special he really is. Destined for greatness, Harry is raised to be a leader in secret while wizarding life goes on. His main goal? Release his guardian from an ancient prison by destroying Lord Voldemort forever. Not too difficult, right? Wrong.
1. Chapter 1 - Peter

**A/N:**

This is the first chapter for a story I've been planning out for a while now. I posted it a few months ago but took it down and rewrote it.

This story will be a complete AU from canon. It will also be much darker. This story will not contain much, if any, fluff or romance except in the general background. This is a **war **story. Like _A Song of Ice and Fire,_ this story will be a character driven story that revolves around a gigantic, worldwide war between three factions.

It will also hopefully have quite a few new twists on the general Harry Potter fanfiction clichés.

This is a very ambitious project that will take a lot of time and I cannot guarantee when the next update will occur but **I will not** abandon this story. The idea has not left my mind for over a year so it's here to stay.

That being said, this is my first major writing project outside of college creative writing classes so expect some errors here and there and I will appreciate any feedback I receive.

Also, if you want something to happen and it doesn't screw with the general plot or any of the things I have planned out already, I will try to see if I can find a place for it.

Thank you.

**Summary**: A three-way war with each faction fighting for dominance on how the magical world should stand globally. It's a battle between Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters, Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix, and a third party led by Harry Potter that no one will hear of until it may be too late.

-X-

June, 1980:

"_The Vessels with the power to vanquish the Dark Ones approach._

_Born to those who have thrice defied one._

_Born as the seventh month dies._

_The Serpent's Heir shall mark them as his equals._

_And they will have power the Serpent's heir knows not._

_And all must die by the hand of another, for none can live while another survives._

_It shall be as it is written in The First Prophecy._

_One becomes two becomes three, all the way to Seven._

_Creator and Righteous._

_They are coming."_

-x-

October 31st, 1981,

Halloween Night:

It was the darkest night he'd seen in a while, possibly his life. The streetlights barely shown through the thick, black fog that was gracing the earth with its presence, yet he could still make out the magical children dressed as Muggles walking door to door gathering candy. He had to squint his eyes to make out the further ones through the darkness, but he could see just fine. And it was terrifying.

Halloween night had changed so much over the years and it made Peter Pettigrew want to vomit. No longer were the rituals performed to honor the dead, no longer were the festivals held to pay tribute to all magical ancestors. Halloween had become Muggle and it was disgusting.

Peter stood outside his best friends' house in the bushes, invisible, watching them through the living room window. Both Lily and James were smiling at the baby boys cradled to their chests while sitting on the forest green couch that James' mother had gifted to them as a housewarming present before being murdered by Death Eaters two years prior. They looked as if there wasn't a war raging outside. They looked happy and Peter was sad that their happiness was going to end tonight.

With a glance at the second floor window closest to him and a quick thought, Peter was no longer outside in the chilly, autumn air, but inside the heated house in the twins' bedroom. It was clean, nothing but three small toys resting on the floor in the corner by the closet on Peter's right. To his left sat two dark brown cribs. They were placed corner to corner with each other forming an "X" with their edges. Above each crib hung a picture of a letter, one an "A", the other an "H". In the small corner between the cribs was an end-table with a lion-shade lamp and three pictures in black and gold frames.

Peter walked over to the cribs and glanced at the pictures. One was of him, James, Sirius, and Remus standing in the hospital room with James holding his children for the first time, immediately after they were born. Lily was in the background, looking exhausted in her bed with small beads of sweat dripping from her forehead and the largest smile on her face that Peter had ever seen. Another picture was of James and Lily slowly rocking the twins to sleep. Both of their lips were slowly moving up and down and Peter knew they were both singing. The final pictures was of the twins zooming through the living room on the toy broomsticks Sirius bought them for their first birthday. Lily was frantically chasing after them while James fell backwards onto the couch, roaring with laughter.

The pictures made Peter smile. They were some of the happiest moments of the Potter's lives. Each of the pictures radiated happiness.

"I'm sorry," Peter said. He turned around, sat in the chair by the window, and waited.

-x-

It was another hour before he heard James and Lily walking up the stairs. Peter stood up, quickly stretched, and slowly started to move sideways towards the corner of the bedroom opposite the cribs, watching the door the entire time. When it opened, Peter stopped moving.

James and Lily walked in carrying the sleeping twins. They looked tired themselves. _The twins finally wore them out._

"I still can't believe he did that."

"Come on, Lils, it was hilarious." James grinned.

"It was," Lily said, bending over and gently placing a sleeping Adam into his crib, "but it's not normal. I doubt even Dumbledore was able to perform magic, even accidental, at one." She kissed Adam's forehead.

"Yes, well," James said, doing the same to Harry, "he's a Potter. He's special." He gave a small tickle to Harry's belly.

"Of course," Lily said, deadpan. Then she and James laughed and shared a fond smile before turning back to the twins and continuing to tuck them in. They wrapped them up tight in their blankets, then switched places. James went over to Adam and Lily went to Harry.

"Goodnight," they both whispered, then added another forehead kiss before turning around and heading for the door. James wrapped his right arm around Lily's shoulders and pulled her in close, bending his head to the side and resting it on top of hers. He took a deep breath in through his nose, smelling her hair.

Then a ball of fire appeared before them. The sudden heat wave caused Peter to cringe. He jumped and let out a small gasp while he reached for his wand, but luckily the sound of the fire kept his presence hidden.

James and Lily also startled. They each jumped backwards and whipped out their wands, James subconsciously stepping in front of Lily. They pointed their wands at the fireball and began the incantations for some heavy-duty water curses when the ball of fire solidified into an orange and yellow bird.

"Fawkes!" James screamed in relief. He and Lily lowered their wands just in time to avoid blasting the phoenix with a dose of freezing water.

"Shit," James said, turning around and looking at the twins.

Peter turned as well. They were still asleep.

James waved his wand at them and a sound barrier circled the sleeping babes. He then turned back to Fawkes. "What the hell?"

Fawkes let out a small screech and waved one of his talons back and forth. Peter saw a slip of parchment tied around his ankle. James saw it as well. He reached forward and began to untie it.

"What is it?" Lily asked. She sounded scared but she stepped forward and peered over James' shoulder.

"I'm not sure," James responded, unrolling the parchment.

A moment later he tensed and the parchment fell from his hands to the floor. His shoulders began to shake in what Peter had learned over the years was extreme anger.

Fawkes screeched one final time and disappeared in a flash of flame.

"James, what's wrong?" Lily shook his shoulder, but James didn't respond so she bent down and picked up the parchment herself. It fell back to the floor a few seconds later. "No," she whispered.

Very slowly and very carefully, Peter started to walk forward. He needed to know what was on the parchment. He tried to stay as silent as possible but he didn't think it would have mattered. James and Lily were a wreck. Lily was now sobbing into James' shoulder. James had finally snapped out of his anger and was now hugging her tightly. They were each distracted enough for him to crouch down next to them and read the parchment, which had fallen face up:

_All Longbottoms but Neville killed by the Lestranges – A.D._

Peter felt a sudden stab of sadness puncture his chest. He almost let some of his grief escape his mouth but he managed to control himself and hold back. He could not be detected. It was of the utmost importance. He could not fail.

Burying his emotions underneath his determination, Peter slowly stood up and started to make his way back to the corner of the bedroom. When he was halfway there, Lily spoke.

"What's going to happen to Neville?" it came out barely above a whisper but Peter still heard her.

"I don't know," James answered after a moment. "I'm sure Dumbledore will find someone to raise him."

"Why don't we?" Lily asked.

"Why don't we what?"

"Why don't we raise him?" Lily removed herself from James' shoulder and stood up straight, her face full of determination and stubbornness. "We could do it. We already have two babies. We can handle a third. They're the same age and everything. Frank and Alice were good friends of ours. We could do it, James. They'd do the same for us."

"You sure, Lils?"

Peter was certain James had already decided that's what they were going to do before Lily suggested it. That's the kind of man he was.

"Yes."

"Okay, we'll tell Dumbledore in the morning."

"Why not now?"

"Because, call me Mad-Eye, but I don't want to leave the twins alone right now."

"James, we're under the Fidelius. The twins are asleep. No one but Peter, Sirius, and Dumbledore know where we are. The Death Eaters could still be after Neville! We know Voldemort wants him dead. It'll only take ten minutes to tell Dumbledore and bring Neville back here. I don't want him in the hands of a bunch of incompetent aurors, James."

"I don't know..."

"We'll put up some more wards around the twins to let us know if they wake up or need anything, okay?"

"Lily, I don't know..."

"_Come on,_ James."

James sighed. "Alright, fine. We're back in ten minutes. No longer."

"Deal, let's get started."

Peter watched them begin waving their wands around the room and towards the sleeping boys. He felt monitoring charm after monitoring charm raise up around him and the twins. The amount of magic suddenly in the room caused him to shiver involuntarily.

After about five minutes of straight spell-casting, they finished.

"Okay, let's go." James grabbed Lily's hand and they both disappeared from the room.

Peter let out an enormous sigh of relief; it felt like a gigantic burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He looked out the window. He was so glad the Potters were no longer here because _he_ was.

He stood in the street.

He was at the very end, unnoticed by everyone but Peter. He wore his standard black robes with his hood up and around his head, shielding his face. Nothing was visible except for the glowing crimson eyes that Peter could make out even through the distance. His robes blew through the cold, night wind.

Lord Voldemort began making his way towards the house. Peter watched as two magical children dressed as pumpkins approached him, then seconds later, turn and sprint away in the opposite direction, their candy occasionally falling from their bag and into the street.

Voldemort reached the iron-bar fence surrounding the Potter's house and stopped. Peter watched him as he peered through the open curtains into the empty living room. His eyes then traveled up the house and he looked directly through Peter into the twins' bedroom.

He waved his wand and the gate blew open with a faint creak. Voldemort walked forward and disappeared from Peter's view.

Turning around, Peter walked to the chair and sat down, staring at the bedroom door. A second later, the front door blasted open downstairs—_always one to make an entrance, that one_—and the twins jerked awake and began to cry, setting off many of the charms. He needed to hurry.

The stairs creaked, soon followed by footsteps in the hallway right outside the bedroom door. Then the door exploded into hundreds of pieces, several shards of wood flying to Peter and digging their way into his skin. He bit his lip to keep quiet.

Behind the cloud of dust, Lord Voldemort stood in all his self-perceived glory. His eyes flashed around the room, his yew wand casually moving, following his line of sight, ready to instantly strike a deadly blow if needed. Seeing no apparent threat, he entered the room.

_So far, so good,_ Peter thought as he remained unnoticed in the chair.

With a wave of his wand, Voldemort disabled all of the monitoring charms. The sudden silence in the room was strange. Peter was sure the only reason the charms were silenced was because they'd been going off long enough for the terror to sink its way into the Potter's bones.

Voldemort approached the cribs and swished his wand back and forth between the crying children, as if debating which to strike down first. _It's like he's doing eeny-meeny-miny-moe, _Peter absurdly thought. Finally deciding on Harry, the Dark Lord raised his wand higher and pointed it directly at Harry's face. Peter's heart began to pump faster, pulsing shots of adrenaline throughout his body as his excitement for the moment grew. _It's finally here._

Voldemort spoke the curse:

"_Avada Kedavra!_"

The bolt of deadly green light flew from Voldemort's wand and struck Harry directly in the face. The light illuminated the room with its deathly green glow.

Unlike what it's supposed to do when striking a living target, this Killing Curse did not get absorbed into Harry's body and instantly suck the life force from him. It failed for the first time in history.

Instead, it remained attached to Harry's forehead and Voldemort's wand, like a green rope linking them together. Harry screamed, cried, and convulsed in his crib as if having a seizure. A second later, a thread of the deadly rope broke away from Harry's forehead and launched itself towards the other crib. It struck Adam in the face, and like Harry, Adam started to convulse. Another second and the rope flew from Adam and headed towards Voldemort, where it reconnected with his wand, creating a glowing, green triangle made of death magic.

Then, the rope snapped. The pieces connected to Harry and Adam disappeared into their skin where they'd been hit. Voldemort's piece launched backwards, as if trying to re-enter his wand, but was unable to. Peter watched, fascinated, as the surprised Dark Lord was struck in the chest by his own Killing Curse.

Voldemort flew backwards and struck the wall. His body began to glow as he screamed and screamed in pain. Then he started to crumble and turn to ash like a piece of wood that'd been consumed by fire. His wand and robes fell to the floor, scattering his ashes across the bedroom. All that remained of Lord Voldemort was the angry spirit Peter saw rise from the ashes and flee the room.

When he was gone, Peter rushed to the cribs and picked up Harry, completely ignoring Adam for the moment.

"Shh, Harry," Peter mumbled while clutching Harry to his chest. "It's okay. He's gone. You got him." Peter bounced Harry up and down in his arms and continued to speak nonsensical words of comfort to try and distract the boy from the pain. Soon, the boy quieted down. Peter wasn't sure if it actually worked or if Harry just passed out from all the pain.

After making sure Harry was secure, Peter bent down and picked up Voldemort's fallen wand and placed it inside his cloak. Then, turning his attention back to the boy in his arms, he began to trace the outline of Harry's scar with one of his fingers; dark magic radiated from the wound and as he made contact with it, Peter hissed and jerked his finger back. The scar burned him.

A sudden, loud wail distracted Peter from his burnt finger. He turned to Adam who had tear streaks running down his face and a large snot bubble hanging from his nose. Just like Harry, Adam had a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. The only difference was Adam's wasn't a soul container. With his free hand, Peter gently wiped away some of the tear streaks, then ruffled the boy's hair.

"We'll see each other again one day," Peter said. "I hope you have the strength to say no." He bent down and kissed Adam's forehead. It seemed to calm the boy somewhat and Peter was glad. He stood up and removed his wand from his cloak. He pointed it at Harry and cast a Disillusionment Charm; Harry became a somewhat invisible weight in his arms. He then cast one on himself and left the bedroom.

Peter couldn't apparate out of the house like he did to get in because Harry didn't know the secret. It was one of those weird magical loopholes. The Fidelius didn't work on children under the age of five so they couldn't enter and exit the hidden location as they pleased. Instead, they have to be taken in and out as needed.

The upstairs hallway was empty as Peter made his way through it. He moved as quickly as he could without shaking Harry too much; he need to get out of there now. He imagined it was only seconds before the Potters finally arrived... Probably with Dumbledore. _Frankly, I'm surprised they aren't here already_.

Being careful not to trip and fall, Peter rushed down the stairs and launched himself through the massive hole where the front door used to be; it was now a huge pile of wood, dust, and debris on the living room floor. He was running past the iron fence and making his way to the edge of the Fidelius when he heard them arrive.

Stopping so abruptly he almost fell over, Peter slowly turned around. As suspected, James and Lily had arrived with Dumbledore. Lily held baby Neville in her arms. They all looked terrified.

For the first time, Peter was thankful for the Lestranges. Their killing of the Longbottoms had prevented the Potters and Dumbledore from arriving sooner. If they hadn't had Neville, they could have used Fawkes to arrive almost instantly after the monitoring charms went off, but they did and they knew phoenix flame was harmful to newborns.

As fast as he dared, Peter crept his way backwards as his friends rushed into their house with their wands drawn. After what felt like ages, Peter felt himself pass the Fidelius barrier and apparated himself and Harry away from Godric's Hollow and into the Shrieking Shack.

When they landed, Harry woke and began to scream again. Peter removed their disillusionment and started to check Harry over. He was sure the boy was in a lot of pain—surviving a supposedly unblockable curse and having a foreign piece of soul invade your forehead would do that to anyone—but there wasn't much he could do. The apparition hadn't really helped much either.

But the pain would pass. Harry wouldn't even remember the events of tonight in a few years, at least consciously. His subconscious might keep a few aspects of the night but by then everything will have been explained to him and he would understand.

While mumbling a spell to put Harry back to sleep, Peter looked around the place that used to be one of his homes. The shack looked just as he and the other Marauders left it: scratch marks all over the wooden floors, walls, and ceiling left by Moony during his transformation, cobwebs here and there that none of them had bothered to get rid of because they'd been teenage boys who didn't mind getting a little dirty, the broken furniture, and the secret passageway leading from the shack to Hogwarts' grounds hiding behind a dusty portrait of the Black Lake.

Cradling Harry to his chest once more, Peter recast their disillusionment and slipped the portrait aside with his free hand and entered the tunnel.

The underground passage was dark and damp as they made their way through, yet Peter couldn't help but reminisce about the many fun times he and the others had had in the tunnel. _Sirius almost killing Snape by sending him to Remus also comes to mind._

He passed over a few mice that had been nibbling away on the roots of the Whomping Willow and reached the exit. He hit the button at the base of the trunk to freeze the plant, then emerged out underneath the night sky on Hogwarts grounds.

Peter thought the castle looked as beautiful as ever. The thousands of magically lit torches lit up all the windows of the towers where the students were no doubt enjoying the Halloween feast, the cobblestone bricks glowed in the night like stars as they radiated the ancient magic they'd been built with. It was perfect. It was home.

But it was also a prison.

Peter held Harry tight as he made his way across the grounds towards the Forbidden Forest. _The only thing that can discover us now are the centaurs,_ Peter thought and unintentionally let out a small laugh. He was sure the centaurs were ignoring everything that didn't involve them as usual and were throwing a gigantic festival to discuss the stars and destiny. _Although, tonight would be a good night for that._

After ten minutes of walking, Peter reached Hagrid's hut and cut through his giant-pumpkin patch. He entered the forest and twigs and sticks crackled under his feet but there was no one around to hear. They moved through the colorful autumn trees heading deeper and deeper into the forest for thirty more minutes before arriving at their destination. It was a large stone among many with a tiny serpent engraved into it. The serpent was so small and unnoticeable that he never would have seen it if he hadn't been told exactly where it was and where to look.

Peter placed his free hand upon the snake carving and felt it come to life; it struck his hand with its stone fangs, flicked its tongue over the small amount of blood that started oozing from his skin, and then hissed.

Peter removed his hand and stared directly at the bloody serpent on the rock. Instead of being a carving, it was now standing up out of the rock like a cobra with its hood flared, looking as real as any other serpent would.

Peter hissed back.

He had no idea what he was actually saying since he wasn't a parselmouth and didn't understand a word of parseltongue, but his Master had drilled the phrase into him for years; he'd been forced to practice over and over again until he was able to repeat it perfectly. It had taken a while too.

In response to his words, the stone serpent hissed a final time before retreating back into the stone, absorbing all of Peter's blood with it. The stones then vanished, revealing a long, dark pathway that Peter had never traveled through before. Hesitantly, he entered.

Once inside, the stones reappeared, sealing them in. Peter removed their disillusionment once more and cast a Lumos. It looked like he were in a small cavern of some sort. There was a tiny stream of water flowing from one of the rocks beside him; Peter followed it.

The stream led him deeper into the cave. It felt like he'd been walking for miles through tunnel when the cavern split into more tunnels that he recognized. He followed the one on his right for a couple more minutes and emerged into the Chamber of Secrets.

The chamber was lit by several candles that hung from the high walls and cast a green glow throughout. Statues and statues of ancient serpents lined the walkway to the statue at the far end of the chamber, a statue Peter hated more than anything. He walked towards it and the eyes of the serpents seemed to follow his movements as he approached.

When he stood before it, he sneered.

It was a statue of Merlin, long bread and staff. It was a complete, perfect replica of the man during his prime. It had been built by Salazar himself as a tribute to the First-Born wizard but had later been turned into a prison for the constructor.

Peter wanted nothing more than to take out his wand and destroy the statue that had kept his Master prisoner for the last thousand years. But, loathe as he was to admit it, Peter was nowhere near strong enough. He was unable to perform the tasks, break the locks, and release his master to reshape the earth in his image. There was only one person in the entire world powerful enough to do it and he was currently fast asleep in Peter's arms.

Peter knelt with his head bowed and gently placed Harry down on the stone floor in front of him.

"Master," he said, "I have him. It went exactly as you said it would. The killing curse rebounded. The heir is nothing but a wraith and a piece of his fractured soul is now contained in Harry's scar. It's shaped like a lightning bolt. The other boy, Adam, has a scar as well but there's no soul inside it."

It was silent for a long time.

Then, out of nowhere, strong winds burst throughout the chamber. It was as if a mighty tornado had suddenly been unleashed from nothing and struck directly on top of Peter. The winds raged and raged; it felt as if his face were constantly getting sliced by razors. It was impossible to hear anything.

Then a voice came from the wind. It was strong and powerful and terrifying. It flew from the wind itself directly to Peter's ears. It spoke with perfect clarity.

"You've done well."

Peter let out a sigh. "Thank you," he breathed out. "Thank you, Master. What happens now? What must I do?"

As before, the wind spoke.

"A ritual. A very old, very dangerous ritual. It is necromantic in nature. You will need my assistance so I will guide you through it.

Peter gave a firm nod. Then, curious, he asked a question.

"May I ask what the ritual is for?"

The wind seemed to cruelly laugh at him. Then it answered. "Of course, Peter. You are going to remove Harry's soul."


	2. Chapter 2 - Peter

Peter left the safety of the chamber through the forest entrance he'd just learned of after receiving his new set of instructions and removing the pieces of wood from his body. He'd summoned his elf, Rimey, to tend to Harry as he went to gather the rituals ingredients. He didn't think Rimey would need to do anything since Harry was still passed out but Peter didn't want to take any chances. He wasn't going to leave the boy alone.

The ritual itself hadn't sounded too difficult to perform but it needed to be done perfectly. One miscalculation, one mispronounced syllable, and he could shred Harry's soul to pieces. That, for obvious reasons, wasn't acceptable.

He walked through the forest, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious as he headed towards the end of the wards while debating where to go first. Peter knew wherever he chose to go would be dangerous. By now both sides of the war would be looking for him. The order would want him captured and interrogated before shipping him off to Azkaban unless James or Sirius killed him first and the Death Eaters would want him to torture, interrogate him about the Dark Lord, then kill him. So it was basically the same either way. It was dangerous.

But it was a risk he'd have to take because he needed the ingredients for the ritual. With his mind made up, Peter passed the Hogwarts ward line, became invisible, and apparated to Voldemort's headquarters. Thankfully, no one was watching the apparition point.

He landed in what looked like the lobby of the ministry except the Fountain of Magical Brethren was replaced with the statue of a serpent reared back and ready to strike. The floor was made of black and white tiles. About fifty feet in front of him was a staircase that led up to a few Death Eater quarters and the Dark Lord's own private rooms. Lining the walkway on both sides were several doorways which branched off into the other areas of the residence.

Peter slowly crept to the wall. He placed his back against it and began to walk sideways, stopping every few feet to take in his surroundings. Peter didn't like being invisible in a crowded area, especially around the Death Eaters, because he was so vulnerable. Yes, he may be invisible, but to hold the spell he wasn't able to use any other magic. He was unable to silence himself and the second he tried to consciously use any other magic the invisibility dropped. That's what made this so risky. There were bound to be several Death Eaters on the property discussing what to do and what may have happened to the Dark Lord.

Further and further Peter crept along the wall towards the staircase. As he was approaching another door, he was able to discern an argument taking place between two people he knew very well.

"And where do you suggest I look, Bellatrix?" Lucius Malfoy asked in his standard, drawling voice that silently said the person he was speaking to was an idiot.

"Anywhere!" Bellatrix shouted. A thump was synced with her outburst and Peter assumed she'd slammed her fist onto a table or into a wall.

Peter crept up to the room and peered inside the cracked doorway. Four people were inside that Peter could see. Bellatrix was standing, hunched over the table with her fists clenched on top of it. Her wand was held so tightly in her right fist Peter thought it might snap. She was looking at Lucius who was sitting at the opposite end of the table from her. His hands were resting in his lap but one was discreetly ready to pull out his wand in case he needed it. The other two had their backs turned to Peter but he assumed they were Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange.

"You expect me to wander the earth, searching?" Lucius asked.

"If that's what it takes!"

"He's gone, Bellatrix. Our Lord has fallen. Look at your arm. There's your proof."

"He is NOT gone!" Bellatrix screamed. She raised her wand. "_Crucio!"_ Lucius dove for cover underneath the table. Bellatrix's curse struck the chair Lucius had been sitting in and it exploded. "Are you mad, woman?"

Rodolphus and Rabastan (he'd been correct about the two others being them) turned around with their wands out but did not interfere.

Peter left them to it and continued along the wall. It was good they were fighting. It was a distraction and he needed all the distractions he could get.

He got to the staircase and started to make his way up. From behind, he heard another "_Crucio!"_ Peter tensed, but the unforgivable was followed by many more shouts so it hadn't been aimed at him. He continued up the stairs.

The Dark Lord kept the third floor to himself. It was where he kept one of his private libraries along with whatever else he had hidden. Peter wasn't sure what else was up here. He didn't think anyone knew for sure but the Dark Lord himself.

Arriving at the third floor, Peter turned right and made his way down the hallway where he knew the Dark Lord's study to be. The walls were lined with portraits of snakes and wizards Peter didn't know so he had to be extra careful passing them. Eventually, he arrived at a life-size statue of a snake, much like the entrance to Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts. Peter took a quick look around to verify he was alone before removing Voldemort's wand form his cloak and tapping the serpents head with it. It came to life.

Peter hissed "Open" in parseltongue (it was another word his master had made sure he knew) and the serpent slithered down to the floor and moved in a circle, revealing a doorway. Wand still in hand, Peter walked into Voldemort's private rooms, the doorway sealing shut behind him.

Peter finally dropped the invisibility spell and headed towards the back of the room, passing the Dark Lord's desk which was lined with several pieces of parchment with various object and creature drawings that Peter couldn't even begin to understand. He opened the door on his left.

The door led to one of Voldemort's storage rooms. A few of almost every ingredient he would ever need were stored on wooden shelves inside unbreakable glass jars. Peter removed a bag from his cloak and cast an undetectable extension charm on it. He then proceeded to make his way through the storage room, summoning everything into the bag as he went.

Peter could have taken the safer way of gathering the ingredients by raiding several of the potion shops in Diagon and Knockturn, but that'd have taken much longer and would have been nowhere near the quality he'd need for the ritual to be performed correctly. Lord Voldemort wanted nothing but the best so his ingredients were stored fresh and properly. Plus, he had one of the best collections of anyone in existence. Peter knew what he was gathering was nowhere near everything the Dark Lord had stored away, but this one room would last him and Harry a long time.

When the room was empty, Peter reapplied his invisibility and headed back to the statue. He hissed the words again and the door opened.

He was struck in the chest by a blast of red light before he even saw it coming.

-x-

He woke bound to a table, surrounded by darkness. He groaned and tried to rub his eyes, but couldn't. His arms were restrained. So were his legs. He tried to get free but could only move them in small circles. He could move his head though and blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the dark before looking around.

He was in the Dark Lord's dungeons. Thick bars of steel and the essence of torture surrounded him on all sides. The cell was covered with blood and bits of gore. It smelled of urine and death. His nose wrinkled and he coughed.

"Oh! Are we awake?" Bellatrix cooed. Startled, Peter jerked his head back and saw Bellatrix drop her disillusionment charm. She stood to the right of his head, twirling her wand between her fingers in an imitation of the Dark Lord.

Peter didn't speak.

"Come now, I don't know who you are. Give me a hint. I love games and I can't seem to break your invisibility charm. It's quite impressive." She began to circle him like a shark does a seal. "Now tell me, why were you attempting to steal from the Dark Lord's private rooms?"

She reached into her robes and pulled out Peter's bag full of potion ingredients. Luckily, she didn't seem to have looked through the bag carefully enough because she hadn't found the Dark Lord's wand. If she had, she'd have been a lot angrier.

Peter ignored her and continued trying to free his arms and legs. He jerked back and forth as if he were on fire, trying to break the chains that bound him to the table. He was unsuccessful.

Bellatrix giggled. "What do you think all that thrashing is going to do? Set you free?" She walked forward and placed her wand against his right shoulder.

"_Ramicis!_" she said, and Peter's shoulder exploded outward into tiny specks of blood and bone. He closed his eyes and screamed. Bellatrix laughed. "Oh! You're a man then. That doesn't really narrow it down at all. I need another clue!" Peter opened his eyes and saw his blood spattered across her face.

Peter took in several gasping breaths, trying to breathe through the pain but it was of no use. He could feel his magic attempting to heal the damage from the Rupturing Curse but it was only causing him more pain because he had to fight it. He had to keep his magic focused on maintaining his invisibility. He turned his head and looked at the damage. Pieces of shattered bone were rubbing against one another inside the gushing wound, causing bursts of pain each time they touched. Shreds of muscle fiber were sticking up out of his shoulder, the ends looking like pieces of worn out string.

"Give me a clue," Bellatrix demanded.

Peter refused to answer and watched in horror as Bellatrix brought her wandless hand down to his shoulder and squeezed. His eyes shut again and white lights burst from behind them. He could see nothing but pain. His stomach clenched, sending vomit up into his throat. His body jerked up and down as he coughed. He could feel his blood seeping out of the wound and onto her fingers. He screamed around the vomit in his mouth.

"Give me a clue!" She squeezed harder. Tears begun to spring from his eyes and run down his cheeks.

Peter spat his vomit at her and whispered "No," as quietly as he could to disguise his voice.

"That won't do," Bellatrix said. She grinned as she removed her hand from his shoulder and proceeded to vanish the vomit he'd gotten into her curly, black hair with a wave of her wand. "I'll give you one last chance before I make this unbearable for you."

"No," Peter whispered again.

"That wasn't a correct answer." She pointed her wand once more at his shoulder. "_Salis!_" Bellatrix said and Peter burned.

He burned like he never had before in his life. Chunks of conjured salt poured from Bellatrix's wand and into his gaping shoulder. He screamed the loudest he ever had. He could feel the wound sizzle as the salt burned the wound and began to pump throughout his body, burning his insides from within.

On instinct, Peter tried to move his left hand over to his shoulder to rub the salt away but was unable to. Bellatrix laughed as she saw the left chain constantly twitch and fail to release.

"I'll give you a few minutes to think about your next response. If it isn't a correct answer, I think we'll give you to the wolves." She turned around, heading for the cell door, and that's all Peter needed.

Through his pain, he focused. His invisibility dropped but it was irrelevant because Bellatrix was looking away. A second later, he felt his body begin to condense. He shrank and shrank until he was a four-legged creature lying on his back in the center of the table. In his rat form, Peter rolled over, and, ignoring the pain in his right front leg, he ran to the edge of the table and launched himself at Bellatrix.

He landed on the back of her robes and sank his teeth into the cloth so he didn't fall. Bellatrix let out a scream and started to jump and wobble from side to side to try and shake him off. One of his teeth was ripped loose and he flew off her and into the air. Luckily, he landed on her shoulder.

Sprinting for his life through the sudden explosion of pain in his leg, Peter ran down Bellatrix's body, dodging her hands as she tried to smack him off her, and into her robes where his bag was located.

Bellatrix started to smack her chest and stomach, trying to crush him. She almost succeeded, missing him by mere millimeters, but Peter entered the bag with all the potion ingredients and grabbed his wand into his mouth. He then exited and transformed back.

The sudden weight on top of her was a shock and Bellatrix fell over onto her back. Peter let out a groan as he landed on top of her. He quickly grabbed his wand and bag, then rolled away from her. A Lumos burst forth instantly and Peter held it in front of his face to hide his features as he dove for cover behind the table he'd been bound to as Bellatrix began hurling a stream of curses his direction.

Peter quickly reapplied his disillusionment before jumping up and launching several curses of his own, forcing Bellatrix onto the defensive as she was required to dodge three curses at once. Peter used that time to swipe his wand across his throat in a slashing motion and to send a quick cleaning and sealing charm at his shoulder. The charms were pure agony, but it was a relief to have the salt removed. He cast one final charm at his shoulder to paralyze it before throwing up a green shield just in time to absorb the curse Bellatrix reflected back to him.

Keeping his shield raised, Peter asked a question. "How did you know I was here in the first place?" The voice that came from his mouth wasn't his own. It was much deeper and had a raspy tone to it, much like the noise that comes from an inferius.

"I warded every entrance to the third floor," Bellatrix answered. "They were only to notify me of the Dark Lord's return and yet I found you instead. Who are you? You're going to an awful lot of trouble to conceal your identity."

"I'm just a wizard on his way to becoming a Knight," Peter said. He dropped his shield but kept his wand ready for any sudden attack.

"A knight?" Bellatrix scoffed.

"Yes."

"A knight for _who_?"

"I can't tell you that. I've got to leave some part of the mystery for you to solve on your own, don't I? You did say you enjoyed games. Now if you don't mind, I'll be leaving. I've got things to do, muggles to kill, you know how it is."

And oddly enough, he _did_ have muggles to kill. Two of them, in fact. He just had to find them.

Peter took a step towards Bellatrix, making sure she could see the shimmer of the movement. She did and launched a lasso of fire at him. Peter responded by transfiguring the lasso into a solid rope and attaching the end flying towards him to his wand. He then summoned the other end of the rope which was still connected to Bellatrix's wand. Bellatrix shrieked as she was pulled forward. Peter then banished his end of the rope towards her. The force of the spell pulled Peter into the air and he flew over Bellatrix, landing by the cell door. They'd switched places.

"Goodbye for now," Peter said, walking backwards and exiting the cell. He waved his wand and sealed the door shut. "I'm sure we'll meet again at some point."

Bellatrix launched another curse at him but it struck the ward Peter placed on the cell door. Screaming in fury, Bellatrix rushed forward and began working to destroy the ward but it was too late. Peter was running through the dark hallways of the dungeons towards the exit.

-x-

Exiting the Dark Lord's headquarters was simple after Bellatrix was dealt with. As soon as he'd been alone he'd reapplied the invisibility charm and from that point he'd only had to keep his gasps of pain quiet as he made his way to the apparition point and left.

He reappeared in a random area of London and sat down against the side of a building. Loud music was pouring from inside and he used the music to disguise his screams of pain as he did what little he could for his shoulder.

Since his concluded battle with Bellatrix, his adrenaline had returned to normal, making the pain in his shoulder almost unbearable. He used a couple more cleaning charms on it along with several numbing charms, but none of them took the pain away completely. The wound would only be fixed with a dose of Skele-gro, but he couldn't take any now because it would knock him out and he still had a ritual to perform so he conjured a couple pieces of cloth and lightly wrapped his wound before casting _Tempus_.

Peter released a sigh of relief as he saw it was still Halloween night. For a while, he'd been scared Bellatrix had held him up much longer. _I should have known she'd want to torture me as soon as possible._ The music from the building continued to blast and Peter assumed it was coming from a Halloween party somewhere inside.

After resting for a few more minutes, Peter stood up and walked around to the front of the building. It was some sort of hotel and several people were gathered in the lobby, all of them dressed in costumes. Peter stuck to the shadows and waited about ten minutes before two figures left the hotel lobby shoulder to shoulder carrying a few bags in their hands.

Peter waited for them to pass him before he stood up and stalked them through the parking lot. One step after another Peter got closer and once he could make them out better, he almost laughed at the irony; they were dressed as a witch and wizard.

They were a couple in what looked like their late twenties, possibly early thirties. They reached a red car and the man pulled a key from his pocket and started to unlock the trunk.

Peter struck. He raised his wand and shot off a stunner. It struck the woman in the back and she collapsed forward onto the man, who fell forward onto the car.

"Lisa, what's...Lisa!" The man gently lowered Lisa down to the ground and started to shake her, looking for any sign of response. There wasn't one.

Gravel crackled under Peter's feet as he moved closer and the man's head shot up to look at him. His eyes were filled with desperation and panic.

"Help me!" he shouted. "Please! She just collapsed!"

"She's fine." Peter shot another stunner that struck the man in the chest. He fell forward on top of his wife.

They were then transfigured into small objects which Peter was able to store inside his cloak.

He then apparated back to the Shrieking Shack.

-x-

Peter slumped to the ground, exhausted, yet extra careful to keep his wand raised. The ritual had taken much more out of him than he'd imagined it would. But that didn't matter.

He'd succeeded.

Connected to the tip of his wand was a bright, white glow and connected to that, a tiny sliver of red. Harry's soul was beautiful but the red mark attached to it was disgusting. It looked like a leech, crawling around and sucking away at the pure soul it was connected with.

On the ground in front of him was the body of Harry Potter, as cold and petrified as if he'd just received a kiss by a dementor. _Which, I guess, he has... In a way I suppose._

All the ritual had taken was some rune work written on Harry in blood, a potion, and the death of two muggles.

_No big deal_.

Peter turned his head and looked over at their bodies. They were discarded on the Chamber floor, well away from where Harry lay. It looked as if a vampire had bled them dry for dinner; he'd needed to drain them of their blood for the ritual. Their skin that had once been healthy had now lost its color and where once the skin had been smooth, it was now dry and flakey, covered with wrinkles as if they had been aged several decades over an hour.

The muggles, Mike and Lisa if he remembered correctly, had begged and begged for him to let them go, claiming they had a daughter back home who needed them. They'd said they wouldn't tell anyone what he did if he just let them go. _An obvious lie_.

Peter had ignored their pleas and strung them up like muggles did cattle and bled them dry with a slash of his wand across their throats. He'd collected the blood in a bowl lined with runes and used half in the potion and half to write the rest of the runes over Harry.

The ritual, in simple terms, was the sacrifice of two muggle souls for the freedom of the two souls inside Harry.

Peter took several deep breaths before rising to his feet. "It is done," he said. He held Harry high above him.

"Bring him!"

Wind swirled around Peter harsher and deadlier than ever. He walked forward towards the base of the statue. With every step he took, the mouth of the statue opened a little more, revealing a passageway Peter hadn't even known existed.

Peter walked through the entrance and came to a fork. To his right and left were long, thick tunnels and in front of him was a downward, spiral staircase.

The wind pushed Peter forward to the first step, then disappeared. Peter took the hint and continued downward with Harry in front of him lighting the way like a Lumos. He reached the bottom and as soon as both feet left the stairs, the sound of an explosion went off and Peter stumbled forward, almost losing his balance.

"Give him to me."

The voice didn't come from the wind this time. It came from directly in front of Peter. His head snapped up and before him stood a man he'd never seen before but whose identity was unquestionable. He stood tall and proud like the commander he was. His voice held a strength and power that not even Lord Voldemort could match. It gave Peter chills. His black hair was short, allowing Peter to see his eyes, his green eyes that were even brighter than Harry's. Inside of them were depths and depths of knowledge, cunning, and strength. Peter couldn't do anything but stare.

"_Give him to me!_" Salazar hissed. Peter didn't understand the words, but he understood the intent. He snapped out of his daze and with his wand, directed Harry towards Salazar. Harry crossed the boundary of the cage with a slight shimmer, as if he were slowly being pushed under water. The connection to Peter's wand broke.

Salazar ripped Harry from the air and cradled him to his chest with one arm. He placed his other hand across the horcrux attached to Harry's head. Salazar closed his eyes and hummed.

Peter watched as the dark red magic of the Dark Lord screamed before transforming into a bright, emerald green that Harry started to absorb.

"What's happening?" Peter asked. He couldn't help it. He'd never been more curious.

Salazar didn't open his eyes or acknowledge Peter in any way. He just spoke. "I am removing the parasite Riddle left with Harry and replacing it with my magic. It will merge with him over time instead of sucking away at him for the duration of his life."

Peter walked forward to get a better look but was shocked and thrown backwards as if electrocuted.

Salazar laughed. "You cannot enter my cage, Peter."

Peter groaned and sat up, holding his injured shoulder. "How come Harry could pass through?"

"Because Harry is compatible. He has my blood running through his veins. This cage was designed to hold Slytherins. No one else."

"Then how can he get out?" Peter asked, panicked.

"Because he also has Godric's blood in his veins. Mine so he can enter, Gryffindor so he can leave. That is why it has taken so long for him to be born. Out bloodlines needed to merge into two, living children. This is the first time it has happened in one thousand years."

When the red was completely gone leaving nothing but emerald behind, Salazar opened his eyes. He looked exhausted.

"Leave," he commanded. "Return every year on All Hallows Eve. Take care of his body. Feed it, hydrate it, bathe it, exercise it, everything. He will spend a year in here with me and then a year outside with the others. I do not want even a scratch on his body when he is to return to it. Do you understand me?"

"I do." Peter bowed.

"Good. Leave."

Peter watched as Salazar turned around and walked deeper into the cage with Harry, disappearing from view. When he could no longer see them, Peter walked up the stairs and returned to Harry's body. He desperately needed some Skele-gro.


	3. Chapter 3 - James

**A/N – Here's another chapter. Yes, it's shorter, but only because I didn't want to write out an entire funeral with several speeches in it. I didn't think it was necessary because you all can imagine what went said. **

**There will be one more chapter before we get back to Harry and what's going on with him.**

**Next up: Bellatrix! What evilness is she up to now?**

-x-

He drank his way to the funeral. In his right hand, James held a bottle of his father's best firewhiskey. He took a deep chug from it every few seconds.

The week had been tough and he'd done the best he could. He'd tried to equally balance his time between drinking, Adam, and Neville. He'd have liked to say he succeeded, but he didn't know if that was, strictly speaking, true.

James knew he needed to snap out of it, that this was just as difficult for Lily as it was for him, but he couldn't. James knew if he didn't consume himself with something other than the burning anger and deep sadness he was trying so desperately to avoid he might break and never be the same man again. He was clinging to the small smidgen of hope he had left that it had all been a gigantic nightmare he he'd yet to wake from. He was hoping to open his eyes and be greeted with the ruins of Azkaban, dementors surrounding him on every side. That way, Harry wouldn't really be gone.

The drinking helped him believe.

Lily was walking next to him on his left. She had her right hand settled on his shoulder. Her wand was in her left, directing the two sleeping babies that were snuggled together underneath a warm red blanket inside a large stroller in front of them.

Like James, Lil was dressed in the standard, black mourning robes and had tears running down her face. Hers, however, were hidden behind the acromantula-web veil she had shielding her face. His tears streamed down his face openly.

Harry's funeral was being held at the cemetery in Godric's Hollow where the rest of the Potter family was buried. Sirius and Remus were going to be there along with Dumbledore, Minerva, Flitwick, and a few others for support, mostly fellow order members. Lily had asked her sister to attend but James wasn't sure if she was coming or not. He also wasn't sure if he really wanted her to.

The ministry had wanted a large, public funeral for Harry with photographers, reporters, and speeches. They'd wanted to broadcast the service across the entirety of Wizarding Britain over the WWN (Wizarding Wireless Network) as if it were the Quidditch World Cup or some other event being celebrated.

James had done his best to politely decline while he'd actually been restraining himself from throwing a killing curse at the minister. He was sure the first syllable of the curse had actually left his mouth at some point, thankfully so quiet it wasn't noticed.

_My intent may have shown though_, James thought, remembering how the minister and his auror guard fled immediately after being denied their wishes. A brief smirk formed on James' face before quickly turning into a grimace. He raised his bottle to his lips and chugged the rest of it, ignoring the fierce burn in is throat as he did so, before tossing it aside. It struck a random tombstone and shattered to pieces. _That's my life. Broken._

The breaking bottle woke Adam and Neville from their sleep.

_Shit,_ James thought, wobbling forward in his drunken haze and attempting to get them back to sleep. Instead, he almost fell over. Only Lily's strong grip on his shoulder steadied him.

"Here," Lily said, forcefully. James turned his head and looked at her. She was glaring at him and holding out a vial of blue potion.

James recognized it as a Sobriety Potion. He started to shake his head but the constant motion made him dizzy and he almost through up. He grabbed his head and shut his eyes instead.

When he opened them again, Lily had removed her veil and was still glaring at him. She didn't speak another word; she let her eyes do all of the talking for her. They said: _I've let you stay drunk the entire week, James. I haven't said a word. I know how much pain you're in. I'm feeling it too. But you're at your son's funeral. Drink it!_

James suddenly felt an overwhelming amount of guilt. It felt as if it were an actual physical object instead of an emotion. It rose up within him and entered his throat, leaving with it a horrid taste.

Turning his head aside, James threw up on the stone pavement of the cemetery. The tears poured from his eyes harder than ever as he gagged and gagged, attempting to remove every ounce of guilt he had inside him.

When finished, James stood back up. He was light headed and his throat burned as if he'd been releasing dragon fire instead of alcohol. He reluctantly took the potion from Lily and drank it. It soothes his burning throat somewhat but did nothing to relieve the already awful taste in his mouth. However, he felt his head become clearer almost immediately and everything around him stopped being so fuzzy. The numbness in his brained completely disappeared and that's when everything hit him at once. He fell to his knees and cried some more.

"He's really gone, isn't he?" he eventually whispered to no one in particular.

Sometime while he'd been crying, Lily got the kids back to sleep. She crouched down beside him and pulled him into a hug. She didn't speak but words weren't really necessary. It had been a rhetorical question.

James gripped her tightly, holding onto her as if she were the only thing keeping him alive, and released everything he'd been holding inside for the past week. That night was seared into his mind so clearly now that he couldn't stop it from coming back and haunting him as he cried into Lily's shoulder.

_He lands on his front lawn and immediately notices the missing door. Already in a somewhat state of panic because of the monitoring charms being set off, seeing the door blasted apart tells him this is for real. The twins didn't just wake up from a cough or anything like that. There was a real threat._

_Pieces of the door are scattered across the entryway and chunks of debris have blown into Lily's small garden she keeps next to the doorway._

_The crying comes next. He faintly hears it over the night breeze and he recognizes the cries as his sons'._

_Fear like nothing he's felt before consumes him and before he realizes it, his wand is in his hand and he's charging towards the house leaving Lily and Dumbledore to follow behind him._

_He barely notices the ruined state of the living room and the splinters sticking out of the furniture, pictures, and walls as he makes his way to the staircase and charges up them, heading towards the sound of his sons' cries._

_He bolts through the hallway and stops inside the doorway to the bedroom. He feels the blood drain from his face as he gasps. Something grips his heart then. It feels like someone is reaching inside his chest and is squeezing his heart, gradually increasing the pressure of the next squeeze. His throat has gone so dry he almost chokes on his next breath._

_Lily screams from behind him as she sees the room. "Oh Merlin!"_

_Now he realizes he only hears the cries of a single baby. Not two, one._

_Lily shoves past him before he has a chance to move and enters the room. He follows behind her as she makes her way to the cribs, Neville held firmly in his arms. He wants to see inside them. He wants to confirm that the only reason he's only hearing one of his children cry instead of both is because one had miraculously slept through the night's events._

_However, reality crashes into him once he sees inside them. He falls to his knees and stares at the carpet. The air is forced from his lungs as if Hagrid just punched him in the stomach. He can't breathe and his vision has gone blurry. Distantly, as if from far, far away, he hears screaming. He's not sure if it's him, Lily, or if it's his imagination._

_Adam is in his crib. Harry is nowhere to be seen. Only Adam, whose face is completely covered in blood like something straight from those horror movies Lily made him watch._

_The screams get louder and he realizes it is Lily and Neville, who'd woken up from Lily's screams. They no longer sound from so far away. They are so loud they penetrate is ears like a piercing curse and it's the worst sound he's ever heard. It chills his soul. It's a scream of pure anguish and it cuts right through him because this is his fault. He's the one who switched secret-keepers from Sirius to Peter. While it may have been Sirius' idea for him to pose as a decoy, he'd gone along with it. He was the one to actually give Peter the secret._

_He looks up and Lily is setting down Neville and lifting Adam into her arms. She starts examining him. She runs her eyes and shaking fingers over every inch of his skin. She starts to shake more as her fingers run through the blood on him, smearing it across his face. _

"_Hey, you're okay, you're okay," Lily says through her tears._

_She continues asking him questions while she finishes her examination._

_He wants to do the same, but he lets Lily take care of it because something else catches his attention. He's kneeling in ashes._

"_What the hell," he says._

_He reaches down to run his fingers through them but as he's about to make contact, an old, wrinkly hand snatches his arm away, stopping him._

"_Don't," Dumbledore says._

_He looks up in confusion, silently asking why._

"_If I'm right, I believe you're kneeling on the remains of Lord Voldemort."_

_He curses and jumps to his feet as Lily gasps in shock. Of their own accord, his hands begin smacking the knees of his pants, attempting to remove every particle of Voldemort from him. He sees the ashes sway back and forth through the air in between the gleams of moonlight coming through the window. Only once his hands stop does it occur to him he could have vanished them with his wand._

_He watches Lily turn her face to Dumbledore, tears running down her face. Some of her hair is sticking to her forehead. Adam is clutched tightly to her chest, no longer crying but fast asleep. Her eyes are begging Dumbledore to explain._

_Dumbledore sighs and rubs his forehead before looking at them. "I think one of your children managed to temporarily incapacitate Voldemort. I have no idea how it happened, but that is the only explanation I can think of. This room reeks of dark magic of the strongest sort and the largest source of it is coming from the ashes you're standing in James."_

_Dumbledore nods his head down to the floor where he's standing. He doesn't know how he didn't notice them before. The floor is covered in black and gray ash that occasionally starts drifting through the room._

_Dumbledore continues. "It is my belief either Adam or..." he hesitates and the hesitation is like a slap to the face. "...Harry did something and this is the result. James, Lily, I'm so sorry. I have no idea what really happened and it's likely we'll never find out. I don't know which of your children caused Voldemort's temporary downfall but if I had to make a guess, it'd be Adam because..." Dumbledore winces and stops speaking. The rest is unspoken._

_Adam is alive while Harry is gone, his ashes probably mixed in with those of Voldemort's on the floor. Rage surges through him then. He won't be able to separate them. He won't be able to give his son a proper funeral and lay him to rest without burying a part of that monster with him._

"_Peter's fucking dead." He swears and feels the magic in the air attach itself to his core, binding the vow he'd just made. He's going to kill Peter before his time is up._

"_Peter?" Dumbledore asks, obviously confused._

"_Yes, Peter." He spits. "We didn't tell anyone, but we switched secret-keepers at the last minute. We thought Sirius could be a decoy while the real secret was kept with Peter. He's fucking dead."_

"_I'll help," Lily says._

_Dumbledore sighs again. "James, Lily, I know how angry and upset you are, believe me, I know, but you still have children to raise. One who is the only remaining member of his family and one who will grow up with the knowledge that he lived while he brother didn't. He will be known for ending this war. His name and Harry's will probably go down in history because there is no way we can keep this a secret, even if we try our hardest. You need to think about your family. Let me, the Order, and the Aurors handle this._

_He wants to curse him. He hates the words coming from Dumbledore's mouth because he knows they're the truth. That however, doesn't make the rage go away. It's still inside him, burning away, building into a storm of fire just waiting to be unleashed on Peter._

_But he buries it. He has time for that later. He still has two children to raise. He releases a large breath and nods. "You should know then that Peter is an animagus. A rat. We all learned the transformation in out fifth year when he found out about Remus."_

_Dumbledore nods. "Thank you for telling me. I'm going to go get started dealing with all this. The ministry will be in an uproar. I'll contact Sirius and Remus for you and have them come as soon as possible."_

_He nods his head once._

_Dumbledore turns and begins to exit the bedroom. He pauses mid-step in the doorway and turns back around. Tears are now slowly running down his face. "I'm so sorry for your loss."_

_He chokes, sobs, and somehow releases a "Yeah."_

Coming out of his memories, James realized the funeral was concluding. He'd been so deep in his memories that he hadn't noticed sitting down, his friends arriving, or the funeral beginning.

Dumbledore had just finished speaking and was beginning to lower the small casket into the ground. Rage started to burn within James again because the casket was empty. He wasn't going to risk burying even one speck of Voldemort with his boy. He hated not trying, but he couldn't do that to Harry.

He and Lily held each other as they cried while watching the dirt gently get placed on top of the casket.

When everything was settled, Dumbledore sat back down and everything was quiet for a long time.

Eventually people started to stand up and talk but James just wanted to continue sitting in the silence with Lily.

Behind him, he heard several people he didn't even look at mumble an "I'm sorry for your loss," one after the other.

It went on for what seemed like forever but really couldn't have been more than five minutes, and through it all, James just sat there, unknowingly matching Lily's thoughts exactly. They were both wondering how much different their lives would have been if Harry had lived.


End file.
